National Security

Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner reports that “Hillary Clinton’s classified emails contain discussions of conversations with foreign diplomats, issues with embassy security, and relations with countries from Russia to China.” Embassy security. I seem to recall hearing about this issue before. The issue arose in Clinton’s emails via a summary that Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff, forwarded to Clinton of a high-level 2009 meeting about “embassy »

Richard Pollock of the Daily Caller reports that Department of State officials refused to identify to a congressional committee the “chain of custody” – the complete list of people who had access to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server. The request for this information, made by the House Select Committee on Benghazi last spring, was always reasonable. Now that we know Clinton’s private server contained classified, and »

The Washington Post, in an article called “Clinton’s team went from nonchalant to nervous over e-mail controversy,” does a good job of demonstrating that Hillary Clinton has spoken falsely in trying to brush off this scandal. As Post reporters Carol Leonnig, Karen Tumulty, and Rosalind Helderman put it, “the issues around Clinton’s e-mails have. . .intensified as it has become clear that a number of her statements defending her actions »

If you think about it, the government’s nonchalance over Hillary Clinton’s security breaches probably extends back to the beginning of the Obama administration. The White House likely knew early on that Clinton was using an extra-governmental server. It is implausible to believe that Hillary had no email correspondence, incoming or outgoing, with anyone at the White House. And her email address would have made it clear to correspondents that she »

Paul Mirengoff has written about the government’s nonchalant response to the serious security issues raised Madam Hillary’s private email/server here (part 1) and here (part 2). At last word the government has retrieved Clinton’s (wiped) server from Platte River Networks, the company she had entrusted to do her dirty work. But consider these wrinkles: Platte River Networks says it copied the server before wiping it — copies of the emails »

The Obama administration’s nonchalant response to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of sensitive, classified, and even top secret information extends to its treatment of her lawyers. The Justice Department allowed emails and other sensitive information from Clinton’s server to remain in her lawyers’ hands even though they lack the requisite security clearances. Now, finally, the Justice Department has taken possession of the thumb drive containing work emails that Clinton’s personal attorney David »

Ever since his days in Arkansas, Bill Clinton has had an unerring ability to sniff out corruption and get in bed with it. Or, in the case of Jim McDougal, to sit sweating in its chair. With the Clinton Foundation, Slick Willy has raised this skill to an art form. If there is a corrupt government with which to engage in mutual backscratching, Bill Clinton will find it. Before long, »

As John notes below, Rand Paul has used his Senatorial prerogative to block the Patriot Act. As a result, its provisions will expire at midnight. A new Act will be passed, but probably not for at least 72 hours. Let’s hope that terrorists worldwide respect Sen. Paul’s prerogative and wait 72 hours before using using U.S. phone lines to plot attacks on U.S. interests. Rand Paul is concerned, as he »

John has flagged Rand Paul’s ISIS whopper — the claim that Republicans are to blame for the rise of ISIS. When Republicans controlled the White House, ISIS was, as John says, little more than a dream in the minds of a few fanatics. The dream was realized not because of Republicans, but mostly because President Obama reversed President Bush’s policies and prematurely withdrew American forces from Iraq. But Rand Paul’s »

We doubt that President Obama is a great leader in the defense of the national security of the United States, and the evidence supporting our doubt is abundant. In the Middle East, we see Iran asserting its power from Iraq and Yemen to Syria and Lebanon. We see ISIS on the march. We see al Qaeda and its affiliates expanding their forces. Elsewhere in the world, we see China and »

On May 20 President Obama traveled to New London to deliver the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy. The White House transcript of the speech is posted here; the White House video is posted below. The White House blog posted photos featuring excerpts of the speech and the president in heroic poses here. In the Middle East, we see Iran asserting its power from Iraq and Yemen to Syria »

NATO’s foreign ministers have been meeting in Antalya, Turkey, for the last two days. The proceedings sound pretty boring, according to the official press release: “The challenges we all face demand a comprehensive response, so all of us need to work even closer together,” [NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg] said at the end of a two-day meeting. But after dinner last night, the ministers locked arms and joined in a »

Hillary Clinton’s private email account, the only email account she used for State Department business, continues to spark commentary on the internet. Attorney Shannen Coffin wonders whether Clinton committed a felony. He points out that federal criminal law makes it a felony when any custodian of official government records “willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same.” The crime is punishable by up to three years »

I found Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress persuasive in all but one respect. I question Netanyahu’s claim that the alternative to the deal Obama seems prepared to settle for is “a better deal.” It believe that the Iranian regime’s overriding goal is to obtain nuclear weapons. If that’s the case, Iran will not agree to a deal that significantly impedes its ability to reach this goal. It follows that the »

Charles Krauthammer urges Republicans to abolish the filibuster. He is prompted to advocate this fundamental change for a very narrow purpose — to pass a piece of legislation he expects President Obama to veto. But Krauthammer isn’t talking about an ordinary piece of legislation. He has in mind a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security, minus the immigration service which would be denied funds to implement the »

This week, President Obama proclaimed that ISIS is on the defensive and that its morale is low. He cited no evidence, but if indeed ISIS’s morale had flagged, it will receive a pick-me-up from the capture by ISIS forces of an Iraqi town just a few miles away from a military base where hundreds of U.S. advisers are stationed. The town is called al-Baghdadi. The U.S. base lies only five »

President Obama will conduct the American military action against ISIS as vigorously or (more likely) as halfheartedly as he desires. This is true whether or not Congress passes a new military authorization. Why, then, does Obama seek an anti-ISIS authorization for the use of military force. For two reasons, I believe: (1) for political cover and (2) to constrain his successor. The authorization Obama seeks does not authorize “the use »